Conductor Dane Lam with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra
Dane Lam. Photo © Peter Wallis

Australia's Great Dane

Based in London, Brisbane-born conductor Dane Lam had a diary full of international concerts, then COVID struck. He and his fiancée decided to return home – and it’s turned out better than he ever dared hope.

The last time I sat down with Dane Lam was two years ago in a coffee shop in Midtown Manhattan. Juilliard-trained, the Brisbane-born Chinese-Australian maestro was no stranger to New York, but this time he was in town to visit his fiancée’s parents before heading home to London where a burgeoning reputation as an international opera conductor was placing increasing demands on his time. That, and...